Make Believe?
by latina.raindrop.and.irish.hart
Summary: It isn't possible, not rational. Illogical. This place, it shouldn't be real. I had read about it in the books. The books. It's just make believe right? This is about three girls who know too much about the Olympian world. Nico/OC, Connor/OC, Malcolm/OC.
1. Introductions

**So, Raindrop here! Isn't this awesome, the first chapter of our first co written story already up? ****So, here's the disclaimer! Ok, well, this isn't really a **_**chapter**_**. It's just introducing the three main characters. I will be writing from Santana's POV and Hart will do Michaela's and we'll take turns writing Erin's. **

**Hart: She owns the idea**

**Me: I don't own PJO though….**

**Hart: Well, neither do I.**

**Me: *pouts* That means we don't own Nico**

**Hart: *pouts* Or Connor!**

**Both: Waaaaahhhhh!**

Santana Castillo

She has mid back length, brown wavy hair light brown eyes, contacts and In Case of Emergency glasses. She's five feet tall, her favorite color is green, and she's a major PJO/HOO fan. She wears t shirts ratty jeans, Vans, and a white baseball cap that's so dirty it's almost brown. The jewelry she wears is a James Avery cross necklace, a silver purity ring on her left hand ring finger, a gold blue heart shaped sapphire ring on her right ring finger, a James Avery charm bracelet on her left wrist, and a green rubber bracelet that has arrows pointing up and down, a cross, and a cave on it.

Michaela Hall

She has shoulder length wavy light brownish hair, blue eyes, and contacts. She is five foot four and her favorite color is purple. She's a semi-large fan of PJO. She wears t shirts of blouses, good jeans, DC's, and a black beanie. The jewelry she wears is and ankh necklace, and lots of rubber bracelets and bangles, no rings.

Erin Goldstein

She has waist length dirty blonde, bone straight hair, sky blue eyes, contacts and In Case of Emergency glasses. She's five foot seven, and her favorite color is orange. She knows nearly nothing about PJO; she wears blouses, designer jeans, Sperry's and no hats whatsoever, sometimes headbands though. The jewelry she wears is a James Avery cross necklace and a charm bracelet on her right wrist. She also has a ring on her left thumb.

**So, there's the characters! The first chapter is coming next! I hope you enjoyed! Well, that's all for now. **

**~Raindrop **


	2. We Get Extracted To Camp

**So, Raindrop here! Isn't this awesome, the first chapter of our first co written story already up?**

**So, here's the disclaimer! Ok, well, this is the first **_**chapter**_**. Like I said I will be writing from Santana's POV and Hart will do Michaela's and we'll take turns writing Erin's. **

**Me: I own nothing you recognize.**

**Hart: It's true!**

A boy about a year or so older than me with black hair and sea green eyes ran up to me. He was carrying some sort of metal sport equipment, like a baseball bat or a golf club or something.

"Santana? Are you Santana Castillo?" he questioned me, out of breath. I nodded.

"Who're you?" I asked him, with fear evident in my voice. He looked just like one of the books described the main character… but books can't be real, can they?

"I'm Percy, Percy Jackson," he replied. My world of what I knew, and didn't shattered right there.

"Percy Jackson the son of Poseidon, Savior of Olympus? That Percy Jackson?" I asked him, confused. It couldn't be real. Please say no, please say no. Wait! Say yes. Say YES!

"Yeah, that's me, and you're definitely the girl I'm looking for," he told me.

"Why?" I wondered aloud. He looked at me seriously, and I could see the sea churning in his eyes.

"Because, you know _**EVERYTHING**_," he explained, and my eyes widened.

"Who's after me?" I asked, knowing that this was a serious deal. I _had _read the series at _least_ twenty times. But I was afraid of the answer; though I knew I should be I mean you don't want any Olympians trying to kill you. I learned that from Percy. Suddenly a girl around his age ran up to us. Her hair was curly, and blonde, her eyes were like storm clouds.

"Is this her, Seaweed Brain?" she asked Percy.

"Annabeth Chase," I whispered entranced.

"This is her, Wise Girl," he addressed his girlfriend, answering her question.

"Oh, and nobody really Tana, can I call you Tana? Just my two uncles and Lord Ares," he said, answering _my _question. Annabeth rolled her eyes, grabbed my wrist and started running. We ran down the hallway, through the commons, and out of the school.

"Why in such a hurry Annabeth?" I asked panted, resisting the urge to pull my inhaler out of my purse.

"I left Nico in charge of the Pegasi," she stated like it should explain everything, and it did. I ran faster just to see my favorite character. Plus that wasn't good. Pegasi tend not to like him. I heard footsteps behind us and I prayed to God that it was Percy, and not a teacher. We made it to the park across the street from my high school, and I saw a Greek chariot with a boy my age standing beside it. Was the mist not working well, am I clear sighted, or am I a demigod? I wondered. The boy was wearing all black and he had a solid black sword hanging on his side. When we got to the chariot I pulled my inhaler out, and took two long puffs of the medicine.

"Nico di'Angelo," I wheezed out. He nodded and Percy soon jumped in, and almost took off.

"Wait! Can we bring my friends? They know nearly as much as me! I I can't leave them in danger," I blurted. Percy nodded, and once he got their names, he and Annabeth went back inside to go get them, leaving me alone with Nico.

"How do you know so much about us?" he asked. How would he react to the books? I sighed and unzipped my backpack purse again, pulling out a total of six books, leaving the other two in my bag. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and The Demigod Files. I showed them to him as I explained.

"A man named Rick Riordan wrote books from Percy's point of view… and I've read the entire series more than twenty times. You're actually my favorite character," I admitted with a blush. I showed him my left wrist which had "Mrs. di'Angelo" written on it in black ink. He smirked. And I had to bite my tongue not to sigh.

"Your favorite character am I? How many of those books am I in?" he asked me, genuinely curious. I held up four fingers.

"Really? Which four?" he questioned, surprised he was in more than half. I pulled The Titan's Curse, The Battle of The Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, and The Demigod files away from the group for him to see. He let out a whistle, and Percy and Annabeth returned, with my two closest friends: Michaela Hall, and Erin Goldstein. Ok, so I lied, sort of, _Michaela _knew nearly as much as me, but Erin didn't really _retain_ all that I had told her. But I wanted to prove to her that I was right about mythology.

"Tana, what's going on?" Michaela, who I normally called Mac, asked me with worry, also recognizing the people.

"We're being extracted," I tried to explain, pulling my books back into my bag, and pulling my pocketknife out, and placing it in my pocket. They all sat down in the chariot, and the horses, Pegasi, took off at top speed. The world stretched, went black, and soon we were landing in the field where strawberries were normally planted. I looked around at everything in awe. There was the climbing wall, with lava flowing down the rocks, the stables with at least two dozen Pegasi just enjoying life, the forest, stocked with monsters that go bump in the night. There was the big blue farmhouse, and the dining pavilion, and the cabins in a big oval around a huge hearth crackling with red and orange tongues of flame. It was camp. More accurately Camp Half-Blood. It isn't possible, not rational. Illogical. This place, it shouldn't be real. I had read about it in the books. The _books_. It's just make believe… right? Nope, the proof was right In front of me.

"Is this…?" Michaela trailed off.

"Uh huh," I said, still taking it in.

"Where the heck are we?" Erin exclaimed.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Nico announced dryly. Ahhhhh, gotta love him. I smiled.

"Ok, I AM NOT Going to be kidnapped by random strangers! At least tell us who you people are!" Erin shouted.

"Percy Jackson son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena, and Nico di'Angelo son of Hades," I said. She looked at me like I was insane, and under any other circumstances I would have agreed with her, but I saw camp. Look again my brain told my eyes, oh we're looking: it's really there, they replied. Whoa. I just had a Percy moment!

"From your _books_?" she asked me incredulously, and I just nodded. When Michaela and Erin looked around and gasped, I remembered that I- we could see everything.

"Why can we see everything? Are we clear sighted or demigods or what?" I asked. That's when the demigods before us began to fidget.

"The thing is, we don't know, but you know everything so we need to protect you," Annabeth said with a grimace, she hated not knowing things.

"So, you're here and since you _do _know **everything**, why don't you take your friends around the camp?" she suggested giving the boys a pointed look. I pulled out my pocketknife, and flipped it open. I screamed and threw it away from me when I saw for the first time the blade wasn't that steely grey, it was night black. The same knight black metal that Nico's sword was: Stygian Iron. The demigods looked at me, and then at the knife, now a dagger, that had landed on the ground. Nico indeed confirmed my assumption.

"That's Stygian Iron. She's a demigod, of some sort of underworld decent," he announced, and that statement was all it took. I felt dizzy, and I heard everyone gasp, and saw them look at the space directly above my head. I took a glance. There was a shimmering blood red pomegranate, the symbol of Persephone.

"Oh my God. Oh God. I'm a demigod… probably the world's first Catholic demigod," I muttered, but soon the gazes shifted to the purple and golden lights above Michaela and Erin's heads respectively. Grapes, and a Sun. Persephone, Dionysus, and Apollo. It's a wonder we'd never been attacked. As we walked to the Big House, I was in a daze, but when we did get there Chiron and Mr. D were waiting, Chiron in wheelchair form and Mr. D just sitting there. Michaela, being Michaela, ran over to Dionysus, and hugged him squealing

"Daddy!" He looked shocked at first, but soon he pushed her away like she was a mangy kitten. Erin on the other hand, was still miffed about being kidnapped.

"Ok, so who's going to be explaining things?" Erin asked.

"That would be me, Miss Goldstein," Chiron announced.

"Ok, then start," she said taking a seat. Michaela, I and the other demigods took her lead and sat down.

"You, Miss Hall, Miss Castillo, and the others in the room are not like normal people. You are half GOD, _Greek_ god mind you. But not all human just the same," he started.

"So all those things that Tana told me about in Greek mythology are _real_?" she questioned, interrupting. Chiron just nodded, and continued.

"You never knew your father did you?" he asked her. She shook her head, I knew it wasn't something she was proud of, and she didn't talk about it much.

"He is an Olympian God, Lord Apollo no less," he told her, as she sat in shock.

"What about Michaela or Tana? They both have two mortal parents," she quizzed.

"Santana's parents were so greatly influenced by the mist that her Mother wove, that her father forgot entirely about Persephone, and her mother truly thinks she remembers giving birth. Michaela on the other hand, well her mother was just in the right place at the right time to catch the attention of the wine god, and so she was born, her dad truly believes he is her father though," he explained both of our situations. I was just getting used to it when I remembered that I was technically Nico's stepsister. _Well Styx_. Thunder boomed in the distance. Oops…

"So since Persephone doesn't have a cabin, where am I staying?" I asked. And with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes Chiron answered.

"With Nico of course!" my face flushed red. And I thought about the writing on my wrist. Nico flushed a bit of pink as well, so it made me feel a _little _better. I gulped, probably visibly. My mind drifted off to all the FanFictions I had written using an OC paired with Nico I sighed, and let a lazy smile grace my face.

"Guess what you guys get to do!" Michaela chirped.

"What?" I deadpanned as we walked out of the Big House and started heading towards the cabins. Erin looked just as confused.

"Y'all are helping me catch a Stoll," Michaela answered, grinning a Grinch kind of grin. I nodded, and Erin played along, as we went our separate ways to cabins, seven, twelve and thirteen. Annabeth, Percy and Nico, going to cabins six, three, and thirteen respectively as well. I stepped into cabin thirteen, I had always wondered what it looked like. The inside was just as creepy as the outside, there were little green torches, and all the wood was ebony, and the shadows seemed to never end, there were no windows, and it felt as if I had just stepped into a dungeon. I instantly loved it.

"So, where's my bunk?" I asked Nico, seeing as he _was_ the head counselor.

"Um… Any one but the first right bottom," he answered. There were three bunk beds on both sides of the cabin. I picked the far left top bunk, I figured the further away I was from Nico; the easier it would be living with him. I pulled out the two books I hadn't shown the other demigods. The Lost Hero, and The Son of Neptune. I felt bad keeping secrets from them, but I figured, that the future needed to take their course, and that I shouldn't tell them. It made me feel awful, knowing something I _knew _they didn't know. Nico was sitting on his bunk, reading a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.

"What was it like to be a dandelion?" I asked him randomly. He looked up with a start.

"How did you- oh right. Which book was _that _in?" he questioned me.

"The Demigod Files. I'm sorry my mother did that to you, and that she lied to you about the sword of Hades," I apologized.

"No, it's all right, and to answer your question, it felt really different, it was like I was free one second, but the next, I was rooted into the ground, and just fluffy…. It wasn't fun," he said. I traced the writing on my left wrist… how was this going to work out?

"So, um… how do you feel now about the whole "favorite character" thing?" he asked me. I sighed, but the conch horn sounded for dinner before I could answer. Saved by the bell- err horn. We went to dinner, got all our portions, and gave offerings to the gods and whatnot. I had two pomegranates on my plate, and I had apple soda. I had dropped the bigger pomegranate into the fire for my mother, and when I sat down, I began eating the slightly smaller, yet still huge fruit.

"You like pomegranates?" Nico pondered. I nodded, cracking open the nasty tasting shell, to get to the yummy seeds. I enjoyed my pomegranate thoroughly before draining my apple soda. I know it sounds weird, but it really is very good. We went to the sing along, and before I knew it we were back in the cabin. I stayed up, until Nico called lights out, rereading the books, one more time, though it probably wouldn't be the last.

**So, there's the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed! Look forward to Michaela's POV next. Well, that's all for now. **

**~Raindrop **


	3. Girls' NightWe Play A Prank

**Hey Hart here. I'm just letting you know that this chapter will be in Michaela's point of view right after she says "Y'all are helping me catch a Stoll" well not really, after lights out basically.**

**Me: Me no ownie. **

**Raindrop: It's true… I came up with the idea! **

I walked around with a huge grin on my face. Erin was right beside me looking at me as though I had just sprouted horns.(witch in my case they were always there just well hidden.) "ok first things first we need a trap!" I said. While I rambled and looked at the unfolding plan in my head Erin sneaked off soon she came back and I stood there awestruck as Erin towed a very stupefied looking Connor behind her. When she stopped abruptly he kept going and knocked me over. I took him with me trying to balance but in the end just falling with him on top of me. I looked in two his beautiful blue eyes and laughed as he blushed. He pulled me up while introducing himself

"I'm Connor Stoll,"

"I know," was all I said as I walked away, dragging a protesting Erin behind me.

wakka wakka time lapse

I was sitting in my lonely cabin. It was beautiful don't get me wrong. But it wasn't home, and my half brother wasn't much company. So I snuck out of my cabin and low and behold run into Erin while she's sneaking out of her cabin. I look at her and smile

"Time to put the plan in action," I said.

"Which one?" was her reply.

"Z," was all I said. We went to the Hermes cabin I quietly woke Connor up and told him the plan. He happily agreed as long as he got to go on a date with me. I made an exaggerated sigh and said yes. He carried everything which was quiet funny might I add as we walked to Nico's cabin. Erin and I shared a secretive grin and went over to Nico's bed we grabbed the blanket and pulled it with all our might. Out popped the son of Hades (a flying screaming Nico in pink skull boxers I might add.) this intern woke Tana up because he lands directly on top of her. Erin and were on the floor laughing so hard we were about to pee ourselves. Tana was pissed though, and so was Nico.

"Out," I said as I pointed to the two boys. Connor simply obeyed, but Nico was stubborn.

"Stop being a baby and go sleep in cabin three! We're having a girls night and unless you want to be tied down to a chair with your eyes duct-taped open while having to watch "The Notebook" on repeat," I said. He ran faster than I thought possible. He would have made Hermes proud. Tana and Erin were laughing on the floor by the time I managed to turn around.

"Wow that threat would have made Hades proud," Tana announced.

"Why thank you. Ok ladies were executing plan "Z". aka plan "parent trap" let's get to work." I said. We were finished around three a.m. managing to get the Aphrodite, Ares, Poseidon, and the Hermes cabin. I don't know about the others but I slept like a baby.

wakka wakka time lapse

We awoke to the sweet sweet sounds of screaming. We came out to see the "Aphro's" as I like to call em running around like chickens running around with their heads cut off, the Ares jerks looking mad as hell, the Hermes lot laughing and throwing everything at each other. And Percy trying to hose down a chocolate and honey covered Nico! (I think Tana enjoyed that one.) Chiron called every one down to the dining hall for an early breakfast. Chiron looked out across every one and said

"Who did this? It better not be you Connor or Travis". The accused stood up and said

"For once we actually didn't do it." Tana, Erin and I looked at each other and stood up.

"We did it," we sighed. Every single head turned to look at us. Nico still covered in chocolate and honey looked flabbergasted. At that moment a very, very bright light appeared and…

**HA HA CLIFFY. REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE**

**ILL GIVE YOU A NICO AND OR CONNOR**

**-Hart**


	4. I Learn Something New

**Raindrop's Baaaaack! So, the last chapter was in Michaela's POV, and now it's time for you to meet ERIN! This chapter kind of overlaps with the last one. And forget about what Hart said, no Connor, or NICO for any of you.**

**Hart: B-b-but I promised…**

**Me: Oh fine, just one hug for each reviewer. *gives pointed looks to Connor and Nico***

**Connor: One hug per reviewer. Got it.**

**Nico: Yep, got it. **

**Me: Ok then… it's time to face the cold hard truth.**

**Hart: Stop being so dramatic! We don't own PJO. Big whoop! **

Ok, so here I was standing in the middle of the dining pavilion at a camp, I didn't even know existed yesterday, with all the campers staring at me. How? You may ask did I end up in this predicament. Well, yesterday I was kidnapped by three book characters, I was "claimed" by a god, who's supposedly my father, and I and my two good friends played a prank on some people. Needless to say, I _do _think we did a good job. The Aphrodite kids were running around like crazed birds, the Ares bullies were so angry I could see smoke coming out of their ears, and Percy was trying to clean off Nico, who we'd doused in honey and chocolate. Chiron had just asked who was guilty, and blamed the Stolls, they're apparently world class pranksters. But they said

"For once, we actually didn't do it," Michaela, Tana and I met eyes, and I could tell they felt as guilty as I did, no matter how proud we were, so, like we'd rehearsed it we all stood up.

"We did it," we sighed simultaneously. That's when everyone's head whipped towards us, and Nico, still sticky with honey and chocolate looked flabbergasted at us. Then a super, duper, bright light appeared, flashing behind us. When it died down, we all looked towards where it had come from. Standing there was the most beautiful woman, I'd ever seen, a huge, terrifying biker, a teenager that looked like a Hollister model, a man wearing a mailman uniform, but his shoes had wings, and a man with dark hair and eyes that looked like a lawyer, but his suit was stitched with faces of tortured souls… Santana gasped, and dropped to her knees.

"Lords Ares, Apollo, Hermes, and Hades, Lady Aphrodite, hi," she said looking up and giving a small guilty wave.

"What right do you even _think _you have to cover my kids in chocolate and feathers?" Lady Aphrodite and the biker god screamed at her. She cowered back so far, that I thought she wanted to just melt into the ground.

"Hey, she didn't do it by herself!" Michaela yelled, defending her. Then the man in the suit turned to her.

"Yes, we know, but she is the one who knows everything. And, she is a child that should have never been had in the first place, and I could just smite her on the spot!" he exclaimed/explained. Santana's eyes got watery, and her bottom lip trembled. She turned to me.

"Erin, my books are in my bunk, if you can, please put them into a shadowbox for me," she requested before facing Michaela.

"Mac, read The Mark of Athena for me, tell everyone about the second series," she told her, a tear running down her cheek.

"You are wise, child," Hades said, pointing a single finger at her. She bit her lip, expecting the worst, when a still sticky Nico stepped up.

"Father! Don't," he snapped.

"You dare order me boy?" the man, now I knew he was Hades exploded.

"You can't kill her! She's a good, innocent person! She needs to live, Rachel foretold it!" Nico yelled at his father. Hades got a thoughtful look on his face, when the Hollister model god stepped up.

"Your son is correct, my oracle foretold Santana's destiny in your son's prophecy," he said, and with a start, I realized that this teenage looking guy, was my… _dad_.

"Yes, Erin I am your dad," he said, addressing my unspoken thought. Well, way to make me feel awkward.

"You know the smartass is right Hades, we can't touch her, because of her mother," Ares, I assumed, grumbled.

"You can't, but I can," Aphrodite said, and then she vanished in a puff of pink rose scented smoke, with a strangely wicked laugh. Tana's eyes widened and she face palmed.

"Smite me now," she begged.

"Silly girl, your mother won't allow that!" the mailman, Hermes I guess, laughed.

"But, good job with that prank! It was amazing, it was worthy of my children," he added, and my dad laughed, nodding. Soon, all the gods vanished, leaving us wondering whether or not we should be afraid, Tana was obviously terrified.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, once everyone got back to their own business. She looked at me, wide eyed and scared.

"Aphrodite shouldn't be underestimated, if you knew her power, and were in my place, you'd be wishing you were smote too," she whispered frantically, then we went along the entire day, I didn't see her once, neither did Michaela, but I knew there was one person who would know where she was. I walked over too the creepy cabin that seemed like a polar opposite from my own cabin. I could hear voices inside…

"… not healthy for you to stay up there all day!" Nico said, almost yelling, but not quite.

"And it wasn't healthy for you to try to bring Bianca back!" Tana, definitely Tana, countered. Then, I assumed that his facial expression changed drastically.

"No! I- I didn't mean it, its just that, I'm paranoid! As if it's not hard enough just living with you, now I know that _she'll_ be messing with my emotions too, I just… can't," she tried to explain herself. I backed away from the cabin and went to go find Michaela. Michaela had known her longer than me, she knew her better, I could confirm with her to make sure. I saw her in the strawberry field trying to make them grow.

"Michaela, why is Tana freaked out about living with Nico?" I asked her.

"She's been basically in love with him since his first appearance in the books," she answered, nonchalantly, then her eyes widened.

"Oh gods bless her soul," she muttered under her breath, but I caught it.

"Why?" I asked her, scared.

"Aphrodite's meddling isn't starting now. It's been going on for years!" she exclaimed. The goddess of love, Tana had told me about her heart crushing love life. She'd fall head over heels for every guy, but they never give her a single chance. It made me feel bad for her, now she had met the only boy she ever felt she would even have a hope of getting, and Aphrodite's meddling had only just begun.

"Did it ever get _extremely_ bad?" I asked her, Tana, well, didn't let her past be known in the open. Whenever some of it slipped out, she would explain. But not much.

"She tried to kill herself in the sixth grade," she said, looking down, given her mood, the strawberries at her feet shriveled. I choked on the air.

"She- she did what?" I managed to make out.

"I don't know how, but I know she tried, I caught her tear a poem in half. She never tears her work, so, I pulled both halves out of the trash… it was called "Suicide" it was haunting, and all of her most haunting works are true," she explained. I don't know what I thought was weirder, the fact that my dad looked nineteen, or that one of the happiest people I knew had tried to kill herself…

**Well, that's all for now, expect Tana's POV next… Review!**

**~Raindrop**


	5. We Visit The Underworld

**Raindrop again. So, the last chapter was in Erin's POV, and this one will be in Santana's again. We have decided that all of the chapters will overlap with each other. I'd now like to thank **

**Tora the Storm and Artemis-girl123 for reviewing our lovely story. **

**Now, ON WITH THE DISCLAIMER!**

**Hart: Neither of us own PJO…**

**Me: *crying* It's so SAD!**

**Hart: *raises an eyebrow*Get over yourself!**

**Erin: *miffed that her POV was so short*Get on with the STORY!**

**Me: *sheepishly*Oh, right…**

**(SPOV)**

Yes, ok, maybe I was a _little _paranoid. But I'm asking if you were going to be tortured by the love goddess, wouldn't you be worried too? No? Wow you're stupid. But anyway, here I was, cowering on my top bunk, holding the two most valuable childhood items I had close to my chest, in the fetal position. I was hugging my stuffed monkey **(one of Persephone's sacred animals) **Boris, whom I'd made at "The Bear Barn" when I was five, tightly. Nico was trying to talk sense into me.

"Tana, it's really not healthy for you to stay up there all day!" Nico said his voice barely under a yell. I don't know what happened, I snapped I guess.

"And it wasn't healthy for you to try to bring Bianca back!" I argued. His face dropped, and he looked at me, pained for a split second before his eyes hit the floor.

"No! I- I didn't mean it, its just that, I'm paranoid! As if it's not hard enough just living with you, now I know that _she'll_ be messing with my emotions too, I just… can't," I said, trying to explain how scared I was… Aphrodite shouldn't be underestimated.

"_At least you know that," _the goddess' silky voice said in my mind.

"_Yes Lady Aphrodite"_ I thought.

"I know, and I know you're scared, having an immortal mixing around in your personal space is never fun," Nico told me, the Bianca comment at least forgiven if not forgotten.

"What was your prophecy?" I asked him, remembering how earlier today he'd said that Rachel, the Oracle, had foretold my life.

"Umm… well… you see…" Nico stammered, a nice scarlet coat covering his cheeks.

"Oh come on! It can't be that bad!" I laughed.

"_The ghost king journeys to the great plains, _

_There he finds the girl, who has caused great complaints_

_A fifteen year old, who knows too much_

_His friends shall find her, just her luck._

_A girl and a boy find their hearts in each other_

_Though it seems wrong, they have no other,_" he quoted. My smile dropped at his solemn tone, but I couldn't stop my heart from skipping a beat with the last two lines. Maybe it could mean us, but that could also be so many others… but only Percy and Annabeth had been on the quest with him.

"That's different…" I said, unable to say anything else.

"So, you know all about me, tell me about you," he requested, to get off the subject of the prophecy.

"I'd rather not," I said, nearly snapping at him, "Wouldn't you like to know what Percy did before he met you?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Why do you get to know everything about my past and I can't know anything about yours?" he asked me incredulously.

"I'm a very passive person. I can't believe I've been able to stand having all these people around," I told him, trying to get him to get away from the subject.

"We're cabin mates, you have to tell me about your life, or else I can only assume the worst," he said, trying to bait me. I'm sad to say that he got me, hook, line and sinker.

"Fine. You want to know about my life? Ok here it is. When I was born my mom, the woman who raised me, was working all the time, and I never got to spend any time with her. My dad got me every other weekend, because they weren't married, and he lived two hours away from us. My grandma took care of me, and I was an only child, but I had to be quiet all the time, because my grandpa worked the graveyard shift at his job, causing him to sleep during the day. I had no friends until I started school. I started school when I was four. I had a best friend, she had the same first name as me, and her step father was abusive. About halfway through the year, her mom came to school, and gave me a copy of her school picture, telling me she had died. He had hit her skull against a brick wall, and she bled to death. She was four freaking years old! After that, I was really sad, and I didn't make any more friends for at least three more years, and my new closest friend got mad at me, and hit me in the temple with a math textbook and gave me a concussion but everything turned out fine. Around the same time, my dad got married to this evil woman. She had two sons, and she was terrible. She broke at least twenty wooden spoons across my body, dented a baking pan on my head, broke a mirror on my stomach, and dragged me out from under my bed scratching my back with the nails and so on. Her eldest son Matthew jumped on my back, pushed me in front of an ongoing semi truck, hit me in the spine with a metal baseball bat, and scratched me all the time with his nails. Two years later my dad divorced her, started dating my current step mom, and I graduated from the fifth grade into middle school. I had no friends, and I was an easy target. So then I only had Michaela, and she was the third true friend I had ever made, and the first friend I had made since I was seven. We became really close. We stayed close throughout middle school, and as we went into high school I made another close friend, Erin, she was on the dance team with me, and in nearly every one of my classes. Then the three of us were extracted from school and brought here. That's my life in a nutshell," I told him the abridged, yet full, story of my life. Nico just stood there, shocked that I'd spilled my entire life to him, in a span of three minutes.

"_Why wouldn't he be?" _Aphrodite's voice asked.

"_How should I know?" _I asked her.

"_Because he _LOVES_ you,"_ she teased in my head.

"That's… I would have never guessed… can I do something for you?" he asked me, after stuttering a few lines.

"Like what?" I asked him, truly wondering what he though he could do. I had a feeling it had to do with either meeting Persephone, or seeing Krystal again. He was about to answer when Michaela, dragging Erin, barged in the door screaming

"Tana you better not have done anything stupid!" glaring into the cabin.

"Like what?" Nico asked. I really hoped she wasn't thinking about the same stupid thing I was.

"Like trying to kill yourself!" Erin blurted out, before slapping her palm against her mouth. Nico looked at me in horror.

"You what?" he asked me shocked. I looked away from all of them. I don't know how Erin had even found out…. The only thing I had ever done involving that was… the poem. I turned around and glared at Michaela right in her eyes.

"You read my poem. You took it out of the trash and read it!" I accused her. She looked down, and nodded.

"Why?" I asked her rhetorically.

"You never tossed you work, I had to see what it was," she said. I glared at her, and turned to Nico.

"What was it you had wanted to do for me?" I asked him, really wanting to get away from my friends and this subject.

"Umm… How'd you like to meet your mom?" he asked, surprised that I'd turned back to that subject.

"When are we leaving?" I asked him, my eyes watering. He looked at me, shocked, that I'd agreed.

"Umm… now. You don't mind shadow travel do you?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"Wait, you're going to the underworld?" Michaela asked me.

"Don't you have to worry about that Charon guy?" Erin questioned.

"I've got the son of Hades with me! I don't need to worry about him," I smiled. She passed a knowing glance between me and Nico. I blushed, and I know Michaela noticed, because she smiled at me. I rolled my eyes, and took Nico's hand as he started to evaporate into the shadows. When the sensation stopped, and I opened my eyes, and we were in front of big black gates, with the palace of Hades directly in front of us.

"Wow, even though the books describe it perfectly, I couldn't be prepared to actually see it," I announced.

"Let's go meet your mom," he told me happily, and it was almost like he was the Nico from

"The Titan's Curse" and not the one I had met in person. He took me by the wrist and led me into the building. There were skeletons guarding every door, and dark twisting hallways almost like a Labyrinth, but I know nothing like the real one… as we arrived in the throne room, I saw the man who had been in the suit today in the pavilion this morning. Beside him, in the slightly smaller, yet still monstrous throne, was a beautiful woman with multicolored eyes, brown hair, and a stunning smile.

"Mother?" I asked in awe, even though I knew it must be her. She looked like a normal soccer mom in a sundress.

"Yes, Santana. It is a joy to finally meet you," she spoke.

"Father," I heard Nico say warningly in the background.

"So you admit that she is yours?" Hades asked Persephone with an eyebrow cocked.

"I do. And I love her all the same, It's not like I _hate _your son either, so if you don't mind please show my daughter some respect," she answered adamantly, and the part about Nico grudgingly.

"Nico, go to your room," Hades ordered, and Nico was popped away in a light puff of smoke.

"You too darling," my mother said kindly.

"Wait, I have a-" I was cut off by being popped into the room that was supposedly mine. It was beautiful; there were dead plants that sprang to life when I set foot into it. The once dull ceiling was glittered with stars, and there was a pleasant grassy smell. Soon Nico walked into the room and let out a whistle, startling me.

"This place is something…" he trailed off.

"You should have seen it before I came in," I told him, so he opened the door, and when I stepped out, everything dulled, and died once again. I set foot into the room and it teemed with life.

"That's amazing," he announced, clearly mystified.

"So, while they're talking what are we gonna do?" I asked him.

"Let's go visit a friend of yours," he suggested, taking my arm and shadow traveling us to the happiest place in Hades, Elysium.

"Why are we in Elysium?" I questioned. It didn't seem like too bad a place to go when you die.

"I thought you'd want to see someone," he replied looking back at me. I looked at him in shock.

"How did… how?" I asked.

"You kinda talk in your sleep, and you mentioned a Krystal Jones, I can only assume you meant the young daughter of Thanatos," Nico admitted.

"Daughter… daughter of Thanatos?" I choked. All he did was nod as he led me through the small crowds of Elysium. I recognized several people from the books, like Beckendorf and Silena, Lee, Castor, Ethan, even Luke, but in the shadows away from all the people, spirits, whatever, was Bianca. She hadn't chosen rebirth yet, which means absolutely nothing in the second series had started yet, because it all starts after Hazel comes back, and she's only alive after Bianca is reborn. Then we came across a girl, who looked about our age, and when we were close enough, she gasped.

"Son of Hades," she said falling to her knees.

"No need daughter of Thanatos," he smiled at her. She looked at me and tears welled in her eyes.

"Santana!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around me, and it shocked me to realize that _this _was Krystal.

"Hi Krys, what's up?" I asked casually, letting a few tears slide down my face.

"You're in high school now I presume?" she asked. I nodded, and we ended up talking for the longest time. She told me about her plans for rebirth, but that she was going to wait until after I came to visit her several more times, to have the closure I needed, and about how since she's a child of Thanatos that even in death, she aged. I told her about my life, and how horrible it was after she was gone, and eventually there was nothing left to say. Nico smiled at us like we were making all his hardships worthwhile. We hugged each other again and went our separate ways. Nico and I back to the palace and Krystal back to her home that she probably shared with other spirits.

"Where'd her step dad end up?" I asked him innocently as we went back into my room.

"Same place Percy's first step dad ended up. Fields of Punishment," he said smugly. I smiled, but didn't say anything, and soon enough we were called back into the throne room.

"I do not approve of your existence, but I believe if my wife can stand me having Nico and Bianca, then I can stand you," Hades announced. I smiled, relieved that I wasn't going to get smote.

"I love you darling, and although I don't approve of your romantic future," Persephone started, with a pointed glance at Nico, that neither of the males seemed to catch, "but I love you, and always know that you are my daughter, and that I am proud of what you do," she finished with a smile, and with that, we were suddenly back at camp.

**Well that's all for now, Expect Michaela's POV next.**

**~Raindrop**


	6. kissing  questions and hole's?

**Hey Irish here I'm so sorry. I have been so busy lately that I haven't had the time rain keeps reminding me but I'm only just getting to it now. So here's the next chap please don't hate me. And yes dear readers there is deference between me and rain. I'm a funky white chick and she's Mexican.**

**Rain: just get on with the disclaimer **

**Me: oh fine you grump**

**I do not own pjto enjoy **

**MPOV **

I can't believe this she just disappeared from right in front of me. She is so getting it once she gets back. Erin and I walked out of the cabin and she bid me farewell. Right as I was walking by the Hermes cabin someone grabbed me from behind. I grab there wrist and flip them over to see Conner Stoll looking bewierdedly at me.

"Oh my gods I'm so sorry I thought you were trying to kidnap me" I said with a small embarrassed smile. He just shrugged and stood up

"Well I was going to kidnap you for a surprise romantic date on the beach but that plan was kind of fried." We sat there thinking for a minute when he got a look that said I got and Shure enough he said

"I've got it we can still go have a romantic date it just won't be a surprise. That is of course if you still want to go out with me. But if you didn't I would understand, and I'm just rambling aren't I …"

"Yes," I said "but it was very adorable and I would love to go on a romantic date with you just let me stop by my cabin so I can get changed." He smiled his kilowatt smile and I just about fainted. ``````````````````````````````this is a time lapse get over it````````````````````````````` We sat there under the hot sun for what seemed like fore ever I couldn't take it any more I stood up and took off my shirt

"What are you doing?" Conner asked with a quiver in his voice and I said

"I'm hot so I'm going for a swim you coming." He just stared at me in my black bikini top with silver lightning bolts all over it. I laughed again until he took off his shirt then it was my turn to stare he was ripped and I absolutely loved it. He laughed at my shocked expression and took his chance to throw me in. I was sacked to say the least.

"Conner," I called sweetly "since you threw me in you have to jump in." He grinned thinking he got off easy he apparently he forgot that water was a great conductor for electricity I burst out laughing when I saw a giant hole in his shorts were his butt should have been. He turned so that his backside was facing away from me (and oh what a nice backside it was.)Tana and Nice decided to apear on the beach giggling. I gave her a knowing look before busting out laughing again at the horrified looks on their faces while they were looking at Conner (his backside was facing the beach.) He gave me a confused look then turned around I fell over into the water and was rolling around when he grabbed me and used me as a shield. Tana and Nico just laughed at us. I can imagine why Conner and I were standing there back to back since he was using me as a shield. Chiron decided at that moment to pop in and ask what all the ruckus was about. I swear I thought he was going to faint when he saw that half of Conner's swim trunks were missing. Conner then proceeded to tell him bought how he threw me in and how I unfairly shocked him.

"Serves you right!" Tana said. Chiron was about to tell us our punishment when Poseidon and Pades poofed in. they were glaring at me with intensity that almost beat Tana's. I couldn't help it they looked really constipated I burst into a fresh round of giggles. I stopped laughing after five minutes and looked at them with most serious face I could muster

"Are you and I repeat are you constipated," at their bewildered looks Tana, Nico, Conner and I fell on to the ground laughing our asses off. Even Chiron couldn't hide his amusement and let out a horsey snort. They were absoloulutly fuming by the time we stopped.

"Seriously though," I said "what's the problem?"

"The problem," they stated "is you, you are a daughter of Dionysus you shouldn't be able to control electricity. That is when Zeus decided to make an appearance.

"I will tell you everything you need to know" he stated simply. After a very bright light and Erin puking on a very unhappy god of the sun. (I don't even know why she is here I guess he brought her to help me) we all stared at hem waiting for Apollo to get back from changing. When he reaperd Zeus finally got the show on the road." Well since my two brothers are very upset and about to destroy my only granddaughter I guess I should explain." We all just stared at him and him shyed.

"Michaela's mother was a daughter of mine. The reason that she was never detected was because I put a protection spell on her. Also the reason she wasn't the child of the prophecy was because she was already immortal .I can't tell you why though. She gave up immortality to with Michaela's father " I just sat there stunned.

"Wait so you mean that I'm more god than I am mortal?" he shyed again.

"Yes that is what I mean child. Your biological father was just too drunk to recognize who she really was."

"Oh" was my ever so smart comeback. Tana and Erin immodestly pushed their way over to me since they knew what was going to happen I promptly feinted and fell into my friend's outstretched arms. I awoke up in a room that was all gold it was so bright it made my eyes hurt just looking at it. "I guess I'm in Apollo's room" I muttered Tana and Erin chose at that moment to run to me and scream at me for being an idiot. I looked at them like they were crazy. Lord Apollo chose at that moment to save me by coming into the room carring a bowl of warm water singing Journey.

"Don't stop believing, don't stop believing ahhwooooooooahhhhhh!" we bursted into giggles at that precise moment. He at least had the decency to look embarrassed. He cleared the room by saying

"All right girls leave the room or I will curse you to speak in nothing but really bad poetry for a month." He didn't have to tell them twice. He laughed then looked down at me

"Are you feeling alright?" I nodded

"Alright but you still need some rest so sleep." He pressed his hand to my forehead and I was knocked out.

Sorry sorry please don't kill me. I know raindrop is going to do it anyway but please. I have ha d to balance my little brother babysitting my cousins and school. Plus a major writters block.

p.s. if you review I will secretly ship Nico and Conner to you all you have to do is feed them bacon and no one will ever know. (Que evil .)00


	7. AN, I'm SO SORRY! Plus, a little help?

**So, Hart's grounded, and she's supposed to write the next chapter. I know, it's infuriating, but I can't do anything about it, and I also can't start writing my chap, because I don't know what goes on in the next one! Plus, my laptop is broken, I'm on my grandma's right now, and I'm not allowed to save anything, so this is an edit of one of the already uploaded docs. I may not be able to write, but I need some help, there's a talent show soon, and I have a baker's dozen of songs to choose from. So, if you all could be so kind, as to go to the poll, and vote for your favorite song, it would mean a lot. I will sing the first song to get ten votes, or the one with the highest amount of votes by Easter. Sorry this is just an AN, I really truly am, but don't complain to me, complain to Hart ok?**

**~Raindrop **


	8. TALENT SHOW!

**Sorry I know it's horrible I'm just going to get it over with. Look up song Bliss by hinder.**

**P.S its Erin's POV**

**Erin POV:**

We were still up on Olympus waiting for Michaela to wake up. When Aphrodite popped in I was really surprised. I sat there and looked dumb until she decided to put me out of my misery.

"Child you can stop staring its getting a little annoying." she stated. "you will host a talent show and you will make Travis have an act in it" she glared at me. I stood my ground and said

"What's in it for me huh," she shyed and looked at me.

"I will stop meddling with your friend Tana's love life but I cannot do much more than that I have rules to you know." She said.

I just nodded and we shook hands she poofed us in to the throne room. I was desperately trying not to hack up a lung because of all the perfume. My 'dad' rushed over to me and yelled at Aphrodite.

"Don't you know she has asthma you could have seriously hurt her,"

I just pushed out of his arms and into my friends waiting arms. They held me and asked Posiden to poof us back down to earth. My father had a wounded look on his face as he saw me leave in a cloud of blue green smoke.

When we were back at camp I asked do "do you want to help me create a talent show I kind of haft to and I also have to have Travis do an act." They nodded their affirmation. I went to the Hermes cabin rite as I was about to open the door a very angry looking Katie stormed out and yelled over her shoulder "I don't want to ever talk to you again do you hear me NEVER". I was shocked to say the least. I walked into the cabin to see that everyone else had already left and the only person in there was Travis. He had his head in his hand and was shaking saying "why, why, why did I haft to do it why,"

I went and sat next to him. He said "Go away Connor I'm not in the mood."

I said "well then I'm pretty Shure I'm not a guy and I don't look like you" he looked up at me shocked.

"Erin what are you doing in here." I smiled "I'm here to cheer you up and to convince you to have an act in the talent show"

"He smiled at me and said Shure as long as I get to steal Percy Nico and my brother away from you girls" I smiled that was easier than I thought it was going to be. "That might be hard but I will help with whatever I can. He smiled and hugged me I said bye and went to go find Percy, Nico, and Connor. Percy was making out with Anabeth on the shore I burned him with my power he yelped and started to look around for me I just smiled and stepped out of my hiding spot.

"Sorry Anabeth but I need to steal Percy it's for the talent show" she laughed and said go ahead and laughed even more at the look on Percy's face.

"Now to go find Nico." Percy looked at me weirdly and said "why am I here again?" I smacked his arm and said "shhhh it's top secret we also need to get Connor which will be really hard" he nodded. I looked in Nico's cabin and found him and tana laying down and talking to each other. I smiled to myself. I coughed really loud to get their attention they jumped three feet in the air. "I need to barrow Nico for a while is that ok Tana" she just nodded and smirked. She knew were this was going I just don't know how. " I hand cuffed them together then took out another pair and handcuffed it to my belt that way they couldn't run when they figured out where we were going. " to the Dionysus cabin." They looked confused until they figured out who was in there at the moment. Their eyes got huge and they tried to run. I just kept walking not at all affected by it. When we finally reached it they gave up and Nico said "dang that chick is strong." I said thank you. I walked in to see Michaela and Connor making out on her bed. I walked up to them and yelled hey rely loud in Michaela's ear. She screamed and bolted up rite in her moment of shock I handcuffed Connor to my growing entourage of boys. I wisped the plan in her ear and she nodded. She said "have fun" then I walked out the door with the boy's trailing behind me. When I got to the Hermes cabin I knocked on the door Travis opened it and said let me get my camera. I stepped back and onto the pathway he came out and started taking pictures I laughed when all the others campers started to crowd around Chiron even came over to see what it was about. He out rite laughed when he saw three buff guys handcuffed to a petite little girl some of the campers even videotaped me dragging them around camp and Percy and Nico's failed escape plan.

``````````````````````````time lapse`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

It was the night of the talent show and Travis hadn't even told me what song he was doing. I was rely nervous Travis was the first act he came up to me and gave me his I pod and said play track five I put it on everyone looked at him Percy, Nico, and Connor. I cued the music and Connor and Nico started.

(Chorus Nico and Connor) **bold is Travis. Percy plays drums, Connor guitar, Nico Bass, Travis sings.**

"Bliss (I Don't Wanna Know)"

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

**I'll go ahead and pour myself a drink**

**I really couldn't care less what you think**

**Well I don't have to listen now**

**Live this day down**

**If I can't feel a thing**

**You might as well save your goodbyes**

**We can give this train wreck one last ride**

**I'm gonna have to listen now**

**Live this day down**

**If I don't make things right**

**I'll tell you one last time**

**I don't wanna know it's over**

**So save your goodbye kiss**

**I don't wanna know it's over**

**Cause ignorance is bliss**

**I can hardly see**

**What's in front of me**

**Cause the vodka's running on empty**

**I can't stay sober**

**If it's over**

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

**So save your goodbye kiss**

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

**I woke up with my heartbeat in my head**

**I reached for the bottle by the bed**

**I saw your side was not slept in**

**Cold sheets again**

**Remind me of what you said**

**We need to take a break for a while**

**It's been so long since I smiled**

**I don't wanna listen now**

**Live this day down**

**With you so drunk and high**

**So I'll say goodbye**

**I don't wanna know it's over**

**So save your goodbye kiss**

**I don't want to know it's over**

**Cause ignorance is bliss**

**I can hardly see**

**What's in front of me**

**Cause the vodka's running on empty**

**I can't stay sober**

**If it's over**

**I don't wanna know it's over**

**So save your goodbye kiss**

**I don't wanna know it's over**

**Cause ignorance is bliss**

**Now I know I can't stay sober**

**Cause you left me here like this**

I don't wanna know

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

So save your goodbye kiss

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

(I don't wanna know)

**Cause ignorance is bliss**

**I can hardly see**

**What's in front of me**

**Cause the vodka's running on empty**

**I can't stay sober**

**If it's over**

**If it's over**

**I don't wanna know**

**If it's over**

**If it's over**

**I don't wanna know.**

When I looked out at the crowd all I saw was shock. Shock and sadness. Katie had tears in her eyes and was sobbing soundlessly while her cabin mates looked on in concern. He looked at me and I could literally feel his sadness. I was in shock. I never knew he felt that way. I went to go get Michaela and Tana so we could sing an improvised song. We stepped on stage we'd all be singing.

Tana was the first to talk "ok were going to be singing a song called scars by papa roach."

The music _italic is Tana _**bold underlined is Michaela ****bold is Erin**___**all three combined. **_

**"Scars"**

_I tear my heart open, I see myself shut_

_My weakness is that I care too much_

_And my scars remind me that the past is real_

_I tear my heart open just to feel_

**Drunk and I'm feeling down**

**And I just wanna be alone**

**I'm pissed because you came around**

**Why don't you just go home?**

**Cause you channel all your pain**

**And I can't help you fix yourself**

**You're making me insane**

**All I can say is**

**[Chorus:]**

**I tear my heart open, I see myself shut**

**My weakness is that I care too much**

**And our scars remind us that the past is real**

**I tear my heart open just to feel**

**I tried to help you once**

**Against my own advice**

**I saw you going down**

**But you never realized**

**That you're drowning in the water**

**So I offered you my hand**

**Compassions in my nature**

**Tonight is our last stand**

_**[Chorus]**_

_**I'm drunk and I'm feeling down**_

_**And I just wanna be alone**_

_**You shouldn't ever come around**_

_**Why don't you just go home?**_

_**Cause you're drowning in the water**_

_**And I tried to grab your hand**_

_**And I left my heart open**_

_**But you didn't understand**_

_**But you didn't understand**_

_**Go fix yourself**_

_**I can't help you fix yourself**_

_**But at least I can say I tried**_

_**I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life**_

_**I can't help you fix yourself**_

_**But at least I can say I tried**_

_**I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life**_

"Thank you" we all said. We ran off stage and I told the girls to put my I pod on track fifteen. They nodded and while they were doing that I grabbed my stool and guitar and went onstage. Everyone looked at me I smiled and sat down.

"Hey I'm going to sing a song by the late great Johnny Cash." They all clapped politely I gave the que to Tana and she put it on.

"Hurt"

(Originally by Nine Inch Nails)

I hurt myself today

To see if I still feel

I focus on the pain

The only thing that's real

The needle tears a hole

The old familiar sting

Try to kill it all away

But I remember everything

[Chorus:]

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns

Upon my liar's chair

Full of broken thoughts

I cannot repair

Beneath the stains of time

The feelings disappear

You are someone else

I am still right here

[Chorus:]

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

If I could start again

A million miles away

I would keep myself

I would find a way.

I smiled into the mic by the time I was done I was crying a long with half of the camps population. I could have sworn I saw my father but he disappeared before I could get to him. Tana and Michaela both mobbed me with hugs sobbing into my shoulder. When I was finally able to get them off me I went in search for Travis. I found infrount of his cabin sitting on the steps.

"Hey" I smiled at him.

"Hey I didn't know you could sing like that it was amazing."

"It's a talent I don't use too much it reminds me a lot of my mom. You're probably going to get mad at me for saying this but I think you should go see Katie. I know you want to me also know that she wants you back she really misses you." I smiled "hell I know I would" I muttered under my breath. Travis looked up at the sky then back to me he picked me up and swung me around. When he set me down he said

"Thank you so much I'm going to go talk to her I love you Erin. Thanks man." I smiled as I watched his retreating figure "yah just not the way I want you too." I felt a presence behind me.

"That was a really nice thing you did I know you like the boy." He said.

For once I smiled at him "yah dad I know." I leaned against him.

"You know you're just like her, your mother I mean" he said

"Really" I said

"Yah" he said we stayed like that for the rest of the night for once I actually got to know my dad.


	9. Getting Inside Percy's Head

**Raindrop is back!**

***crickets chirping* **

**Dang, tough crowd. So… I don't own anything… let's get on with this before it gets too awkward…**

**(SPOV)**

I can't believe they had agreed to make me do this… I hate crowds so much…. I gave both girls my deluxe "I'll Kill You Later" glare. I was pissed and terrified, but I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face as the song started.

_I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut. _

_My weakness is that I care too much. _

_And my scars remind me that the past is real_

_I tear my heart open, just to feel. _

**I'm drunk and I'm feeling down**

**And I just wanna be alone**

**I'm pissed because you came around**

**Why don't' you just go home? **

**Cause you channeled all your pain,**

**And I can't help you fix yourself**

**You're making me insane**

**All I can say is**

**I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut**

**My weakness is that I care too much**

**And our scars remind me that the past is real**

**I tear my heart open just to feel **

**I tried to help you once**

**Against my own advice**

**I saw you going down **

**But you never realized**

**That you're drowning in the water**

**So I offered you my hand**

**Compassion's in my nature**

**Tonight is our last stand. **

_**I'm drunk and I'm feeling down**_

_**And I just wanna be alone**_

_**You should've never come around**_

_**Why don't you just go home?**_

_**Cause you're drowning in the water**_

_**And I offered you my hand**_

_**I left my heart open **_

_**But you didn't understand **_

_**But you didn't understand**_

_**Go fix yourself**_

_**I can't help you fix yourself**_

_**But at least I can say I tried. **_

_**I'm sorry but I gotta get on with my own life**_

_**I can't help you fix yourself **_

_**But at least I can say I tried **_

_**I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life**_

"Thank you!" we chorused. Then Erin tossed me her iPod.

"Track fifteen," she ordered. I nodded and plugged it into the dock. Michaela and I watched curiously as Erin got a stool and her guitar.

"Ok guys, I'm going to sing a song by the late great Johnny Cash!" she called as she gave me my cue. I played the track.

I hurt myself today

To see if I still feel

I focus on the pain

The only thing that's real

The needle tears a hole

The old familiar sting

Try to kill it all away

But I remember everything

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns

Upon my liar's chair

Full of broken thoughts

I cannot repair

Beneath the stains of time

The feelings disappear

You are someone else

I am still right here

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

If I could start again

A million miles away

I would keep myself

I would find a way.

She was crying along with us by the time she finished. When she got off the stage, Michaela and I bombed her with hugs and sobs. I didn't know she felt that way. At all! Then she left to go talk to Travis.

"She has an amazing voice," Mac trailed off.

"I didn't even know she could sing," I admitted.

"Tana, we need to talk," an oily voice said from behind me, I turned around to meet the eyes of my stepbrother. I glanced at Mac. She nodded encouragingly. I sighed, but went with him anyway.

"Why did you try to kill yourself?" he asked, not having forgotten the mere moments before we went to the underworld.

"I felt like I didn't deserve to live," I answered bluntly.

"Why would you feel that way?" he wondered, leading me towards the cabin.

"When you've been bullied and neglected all your life you end up getting depression. And depression left untreated can cause thoughts and actions of suicidal tendancy," I deadpanned, changing into my pj's without a care. I turned around, facing the now blushing Nico.

"So, what do you want to do?" I wondered, suddenly extremely bored.

"I dunno… why don't we gather everyone up and read about all of Percy's adventures?" he wondered. I smiled and whipped out my phone. I hit the number on my speed dial.

"What?" Michaela answered annoyed.

"Get Connor, Travis, Katie, Erin, Annabeth and Malcolm then come to the Hades cabin," I said with a smirk.

"Nico wants to read it?" she wondered.

"Oh yeah," I replied smugly.

"Who're you getting?" she asked.

"Rachel, Percy, Thalia, Krystal, and Bianca," I announced with a grin shutting the phone. Nico, seeing my grin, groaned.

"So, where to?" he wondered.

"You're gonna help!?" I questioned happily. He grimaced, but nodded.

"Well, to Rach's cave I suppose," I replied. Soon enough, we were outside her cave.

"Rachel!" I called. Soon, said oracle came out, wearing her usual ratty jeans.

"Who're you?" she wondered.

"Name's Tana, now, come with us, I have a surprise for you," I grinned, and Nico groaned.

"It's too late to turn back now," he sighed. Then I drug them both over to the cabins. I walked without knocking into Percy's and drug him and his invincible self by his ear before waltzing over to the Hades cabin.

"Percy, make a rainbow," I commanded him. He glared, but did as I asked.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Thalia Grace, huntress of Artemis!" I requested, soon enough, Thalia's face appeared in the rainbow.

"Hello, who're you?" she wondered, seeing the IM.

"Hi! I'm Santana Castillo! And I need you to come to Camp Half Blood." I announced.

"Why?" she questioned suspiciously.

"So you can hear all about Percy's adventures. From _inside _his head," I said. Her eyebrows raised, and she gave a smirk.

"Give me ten minutes," she told me, swiping her hand across the connection.

"Can we go get Bianca and Krys now?" I begged Nico, giving him my best "kicked puppy" look. He sighed.

"Why don't I go? You need to make sure everyone else gets here," he amended. I nodded and just as he shadow traveled away, everyone else walked in. I grinned.

"Welcome to the reading party everyone, take a seat on the floor!" I exclaimed grabbing the eight books.

"Hey!" Thalia called, popping into the room.

"Have a seat," I motioned to her. Now all we were missing were Nico, Bianca, and Krys. Soon enough they were in the room.

"We're reading these books with ghosts?" Erin deadpanned. I shot her a glare.

"Yes, Crap! We forgot Juniper and Grover!" I exclaimed quickly.

"What did you forget us about?" Grover wondered, poking his head into the room. "Please, come in, sit down," I announced. Everyone sat down.

"Let's lay down some ground rules," I suggested.

"What're the rules?" the Stolls pouted.

"Keep quiet, don't interrupt, and no questions," I said finally. Everyone sighed but agreed.

"OK," was the unified reply.

"So, let's all introduce ourselves!" I started "I'm Tana Castillo, daughter of Persephone."

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," Nico grumbled.

"Santana (Krystal) Jones, daughter of Thanatos, and yes, I'm dead," Krys said.

"Bianca di Angelo, daughter of Hades huntress of Artemis," Bianca declared softly.

"Erin Goldstein, daughter of Apollo," Erin announced.

"Michaela Hart, daughter of Dionysus," Mac smiled.

"I'm pretty sure the rest of us know each other," Rachel interrupted. I frowned.

"Fine, this is the first book!" I squealed, my inner fan girl finding her way out.

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," I said dramatically. I opened the front cover, then had a brilliant idea!

"Guys…" I trailed off.

"What is it Tana?" Annabeth asked me. I shook my head. It was a stupid idea.

"No, tell us," Percy pushed. I sighed.

"I was wondering if when each of you were mentioned, if you could sign the book?" I asked shyly. Everyone laughed and I looked away. Then due to Grover's satyr emotions, he stopped them, realizing I was serious.

"I knew it was a stupid idea," I muttered, turning the page.

"Chapter One!

**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**" I started, and everyone chuckled.

"That's so _Percy_," Annabeth smiled fondly at her boyfriend. I rolled my eyes and continued reading.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. **

"What's wrong with being a half blood?" Thalia questioned the Percy sitting in the room with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, it's just really dangerous sometimes," he tried to justify himself. There was a unified agreement, then I decided to start again.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you. **

"You didn't warn me," Nico grumbled from my left.

"It was kinda too late to warn you," Percy said apologetically. I rolled my eyes and continued reading. This was going to take a while.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid? **

"Yeah," most in the group who knew Percy chorused.

Percy hmphed.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"See, even you agree," Annabeth laughed.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

"That's what you called Chiron, right?" Annabeth wanted to clarify.

"Yes," Percy and I nodded at the same time.

"It's so weird that you know everything…" he grumbled.

"Well, it's not my fault your story's intriguing!" I complained.

"Nice vocabulary," Annabeth approved my word choice. I smiled at her.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy, was I wrong.**

Everyone laughed at that thought.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. **

"Eeeew," most of the girls chorused. Grover, Percy and I nodded.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Nice to see what you really think," Grover grumbled, causing everyone to laugh.

"You _all _get your turn!" he reminded them. I smiled, knowing he was right.

"You better not have said anything bad about me Seaweed Brain," Annabeth grumbled from her spot beside Percy. Percy was looking like he really hoped he hadn't. I giggled and continued.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"You would've hit a girl?" Rachel asked Percy curiously.

"No, but I really wanted to," he admitted, looking down. Rachel nodded, satisfied with this answer.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"I wonder what she did to him…" Grover trailed off with a shudder. Percy, Nico, Krys, Bianca and I shuddered as well, knowing who she really was.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"I'm guessing she's a monster then?" Erin asked uncertainly.

"Correct," I answered before Percy could open his mouth.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

Everyone laughed, looking at the now red-faced Percy in the room.

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"God?" Annabeth looked at her boyfriend incredulously.

"I didn't know it was real then!" he justified.

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me. "—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why are they snickering? He was right…" Michaela was confused. I just shrugged, going on with the book.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted," the entire group chorused, causing me to chuckle. They looked at me curiously, except Percy, who figured what the next line in the book was.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?" "About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life.**

**No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"Probably was," Thalia said softly. Annabeth nodded in agreement, as the rest of us sighed.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"That's weird, even for New York," Thalia commented.

"Honey, that's weird even for TEXAS!" Michaela corrected her. I rolled my eyes at Mac's childishness… yes the weather in Texas was _very _unpredictable.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"Failing miserably I presume?" Connor snickered with his brother.

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius." Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me. **

"You missed her a lot?" Rachel wondered.

"Yeah, tons," Percy sighed, probably remembering what happened to his mom before this adventure. I sighed. I had cried, and I probably was going to cry.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

Grover snorted in agreement with that statement.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. **

**"Now, honey—" **

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

"Impatient indeed. She must've forgotten to go human speed…" Annabeth trailed off, causing many of us to chuckle.

**How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds. Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr.**

**Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"I don't think so…" Travis smiled lightly. I had to admit… I could see why Michaela and Katie liked the Stolls. They're handsome. But they are_ not _my type.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

"Dad's mad at you…" Thalia stated the obvious.

"Yeah, I think we've gathered…" Percy announced.

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"She can quit with the "honey" bit now," Rachel grimaced.

"Not gonna happen," Nico, Percy and I answered simultaneously.

"You need to quit that," Percy told me with a weirded out face.

"Not gonna happen," I repeated with a smirk before reading once more.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss! Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"I can't believe you let the mist affect you after that!" Thalia chided Percy. He shrugged.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"I hope you don't have anything to base that hypothesis off of," Annabeth frowned at him.

"Of course not," Percy and I answered grinning. His immediately turned into a grimace, causing mine to change into a smirk. I laughed at his pained look, knowing that I would find this amusing for a while.

**Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" everyone but Percy, Me, and Grover wondered. I laughed, seeing the next line.

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?" **

Everyone laughed at how easily Chiron lied. It really was pretty amusing.

"So, that was that! Clockwise or counterclockwise?" I wondered, finishing the chapter.

"Clockwise," Nico announced, snatching the book from me.

"Chapter two,

**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**" Nico read, with a groan.

"Are all the titles like this?" Annabeth grimaced.

"Yep!" I giggled, causing Percy, and Annabeth to groan.

"I like these chapters!" both Stolls argued, causing Katie to face palm.

"**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

Everyone laughed at this, especially Michaela and Erin, because now they finally understood the weird teacher references I made to people all the time. I smiled at them finally being able to get the joke.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost. But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"You're a terrible liar," Thalia told the satyr. I laughed.

"We need to teach you how to lie," Connor stated, Travis nodded in agreement.

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

"That sounds like an excuse," Annabeth chided her boyfriend, and he rolled his eyes.

"It was," I announced, before he could open his mouth.

"Stop answering for me!" he ordered me.

"Nope," I smiled popping the "p".

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr.**

**Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Those are easy though," Rachel commented.

"Yeah, if they're written," Percy frowned, causing all the demigods to murmur in agreement.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr.**

**Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

"So that's how you started eavesdropping," Annabeth grinned. I nodded.

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more." "But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"What happened at the winter solstice?" everyone who either wasn't there, or hadn't read the books wondered.

"You'll see," I sing-songed.

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me." The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back.**

**They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

Annabeth's hands clenched into fists.

"Ugh," Thalia complained.

"Tell me about it," Percy grimaced. Grover nodded, and Rachel frowned.

"Maybe you should've punched her…" she trailed off. I nodded. He really should've punched that chick.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**

**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung. Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

Percy sighed at his own behavior. Annabeth smiled at him sympathetically.

"It's ok Perce, you didn't know what he meant," she took his hand. I rolled my eyes.

"Percy's just too much of a softy for his own good," I teased, causing said softy to growl in my direction. I huffed.

"No need to bring out the claws kitty cat," I sneered.

"Tana," Erin and Michaela warned, and I just grimaced at them. Yeah, I had a little tendancy to use a bit too much sarcasm. So what?

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"I wouldn't say _nobody_, but my dad's definitely cooler," Thalia smirked.

"No, my dad's cooler," Percy argued.

"No, no, no, _my _dad's definitely better," Michaela jutted in causing me to giggle.

"No, _our_ dad is way better!" the Stolls put in.

"My dad's usually a jerk… but he can be helpful," Nico allowed, causing Bianca to grin at him.

"My dad's an ass," Krys's ghostly form cursed. We all sighed.

"Now, instead of doing the whole "My dad is better" thing, why don't we read?" I suggested, and Nico continued reading. His voice was weirdly captivating… I was going to officially hire him as my bedtime story reader. Yup. That's what's gonna happen.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"What a coincidence!" Travis laughed, and Katie groaned. I was going to have to talk to her… I want to know what's going on. I feel out of the loop.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?" Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

"You have a business card?" Thalia asked the satyr incredulously. He winced, but nodded anyway.

"Why?" Katie finally spoke. Her voice was just how I had imagined, soft, but firm. Just like you'd think seeing her in person.

"I dunno… I guess I wanted to feel important," Grover grumbled, motioning for Nico to continue. Nico rolled his eyes, but did anyway.

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like: Grover Underwood Keeper Half-Blood Hill Long Island, New York (800) 009-0009 "What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy. "Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

"And what is wrong with being rich?" Rachel cocked an eyebrow. Percy noticeably gulped.

"Nothing," his voice had risen an octave or two. I giggled at his misfortune, because, well… I did that while reading the books too.

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"You lost sleep over me?" the satyr wondered, genuinely touched. Percy flushed, but nodded. Nico rolled his eyes at their moment.

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there.**

**On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

"Are those…?" Annabeth wondered.

"Yep," I grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

"Tana, they are _not _a smiling matter," Annabeth said quickly, and cooly.

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla. **

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?" He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**" Nico finished.

**Well that's all for now, Expect Michaela's POV next.**

**~Raindrop**


	10. Another AN We're not dead I promise!

**So, we're not dead, and we're working on the story, because we are now out of school for summer vacation! We're sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but we're here now, and if you're ok with that and still reading this story, then by all means don't stop! Please enjoy what we have planned for you in this fanfiction, Hart is working on the next chapter and will most likely be finished soon, and will be posting her chapter shortly. **

**I, Raindrop on the other hand, have finished my next chapter, but have to wait for Hart to post her chapter before I can do anything. Please don't hate us, and keep reading our story that we are truly still working on, and if all else fails, have a little faith in us please, we just got done with our school year, like on Friday, so give us the benefit of the doubt if you can. **

**I'm sorry for making another AN, but this one was short and to the point, I hope you continue reading what we write for you, and stay fans of our work. **

**~Raindrop**


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